Editor’s Note: Following up from yesterday’s commentary on why A Repeat of the Great Depression is Our Best Case Scenario, Silver Shield outlines the eight specific reasons for why it’s pretty much unavoidable at this point. When European sovereign debt collapsed in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, the United States of America was a creditor nation, as opposed to today’s distinction of being the largest debtor in the history of mankind. We had industry, agriculture and the world’ premier work force – and we still ended up in a decade’s long depressionary environment. Here is a diagram from Martin Armstrong that gives you an idea of then vs. now:

The diagram above covers the time period only through 1980. You can bet manufacturing has steadily declined since then, while that yellow pie piece has increased even more (and continues to do so on an almost daily basis). We are a consumptive, rather than a productive, economy now. And our consumption abilities have been drastically reduced over the last several years due to falling wages, lost jobs, maxed out credit and taxes. Take special note of the pictures included below, and consider what you would do if it just so happens that Don’t Tread on Me‘s Silver Shield, we here at SHTFplan and the many other alternative news, commentary and analysis web sites are right in our assessments. It is our belief that the it is the hitting fan right now. Prepare your mind, body, and spirit for what is to come.

8 Reasons Why The Great Depression Is The Best Case Scenarioby Silver Shield

We are on the verge a collapse far greater than the Great Depression and we are far less capable of taking car of ourselves. Our way of life is dangerously dependent upon the ability for us to create unlimited amount of debt and the willingness of others to buy that debt. This way of life has a mathematically inevitable end and things that cannot go on forever, won’t.

Let us look a 8 reasons why the Great Depression is the best case scenario and also look at how difficult the Depression was for people who were far more prepared to deal with a harsh world.

Back during the Depression most of America could feed themselves with farming, now we only know corporate frankenfood.

Back then people only knew of real wealth, now we think the digits in our brokerage account in wealth.

Back then people had a strong family on community support systems, now we live little lives of narcissism.

Back then people had a strong spiritual strength, now we have chemically induced denial.

Back then people were of fit body and strong mind, now we are obese and willfully ignorant.

Back then people had a classical education to help them figure things out, now we wait for answers.

Back then people had a real economy, now we have a consumer/debt economy.

Back then people did physical activity for fun, now we have entertainment that turns us in to mental and physical mush.

I would like you to take a few seconds to look at the faces of shame in these photos from the Great Depression. Look at the face of these people and ask yourself, do you think that if given the chance to do something different than the path they chose before the depression?

Do you think that these people were aware and prepared for a collapse?

Did they have the mental or physical assets in place to deal with a new paradigm?

What makes you think that you are better than these Americans?

If you think it is hard to hear your child cry when they don’t get their way, wait until they cannot get food.

If you think it is hard to get a job in this economy, wait until there is no economy.

This car is this entire family’s wealth. The average American right now is worth less than an average Bangladeshi peasant. The peasant does not have trillions of dollar of debt tied around their necks.

Physical poverty is one thing… Mental poverty is another. Everything you know probably is dependent upon this paradigm. What real value do you have in a post dollar collapse environment?

We can survive anything together, but even the average American family has been divided and conquered.

How many mothers are going to sit in regret that they did not prepare themselves or their children for a collapse? How many wished that they not wasted their time energy and money chasing after things that mean nothing? How important is fashion, soap operas, or reality TV?

How many fathers will regret that they did not spend more time with their children? How many men sacrificed time with those that mattered chasing after and illusion that failed them the moment they reached for it? McMansions and Ponzi retirement are the real dream, while we now dream about the real relationships and opportunities gone.

Emotionally tough people can make it through. They can adapt and move on. Emotionally weak people break, because they have never been challenged.

The very real world coming takes a lot of real effort and patience to succeed and that is something we are in very short supply of as a society.

Tent cities are here and the crippling poverty is just starting as the Elite start the final theft.

“It wasn’t much, but we had each other.” stands in stark contrast to today where we have so much but no one to share it with.

Generational support has been ripped from our human experience and is a key to getting back on our feet.

The most famous picture of the Depression was of Florence Owens Thompson taken by Dorothea Lange. The photographers notes from the 10 minute photo shoot were a follows…

“Seven hungry children. Father is native Californian. Destitute in pea pickers’ camp … because of failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tires to buy food. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.“

All of those things that we worked so hard for become worthless when the paradigm collapses. The worst part is most of the stuff Americans buy are cheap stuff from China that will either break or have no real value in the next paradigm.

Those that have been breed to thrive in a collectivist paradigm, to do as they are told and not ask questions, will be left destitute when the paradigm collapses. Only those that use the power of the Trivium will be able to adapt to a new reality.

Men will be split from their families as they seek opportunities far and wide.

Women will have to endure not only their world falling apart but trying desperately to shield their children from the harsh new reality.

“Those that did not see this coming, won’t know what to do when it get’s here.” -Jim Puplava

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I wish they’d fix it instead of trying to kick the can past the next election. It really wouldn’t be that impossible to do. Start distributing gold and silver coins again and sell them at a premium to the silver/gold value to raise money for the Govt instead of the Fed. This would give people a tangible asset if the dollar folds which we all know would help everyone in a crisis.

Next get the govt owned and govt back homes back into the market place at their value – whatever or however low that is get them “out” of the inventory. They are just putting off the losses – get them over with and done. 4 million homes back in the market at today’s lower values will give people a very low cost of living and a tangible.

Finally get a 5 year plan in place to get off the foreign oil tit before the Arabs decide to dump the dollar. Drill here, drill now, and before you give those 4 million homes away make them go solar. Require all new developments to be solar powered and any home transferred to be solar powered; in 5 years we’ll have enough solar juice to keep our electric rates down and not worry about the nuclear plants when they go off line (age out).

What I mean by the minting of gold/silver coins is far different then what we do now. We need a one ounce silver coin with a $100 face value not $1.00. Who is going to “spend” their $1.00 face value coin when silvers’ at $40. Put a $100/1 ounce coin into the market place and people will gladly give up their paper for it. It will give them 2 protections (inflation and deflation). You can’t get more protected then that. Plus our government raises money in the effort. Its printing money for the banks it might as well mint money for us.

The homes are not being sold fast enough. They are barely reaching the market with no real incentive because who ever holds the paper is losing their shirt…..ultimately they are demanding the shirt from the government backed mortgage insurance. SO government take them, get them back into the market, and get them sold asap. They need rehab (jobs) and people that are in low income jobs can even afford them now. My God someone making $12.50 an hour can qualify for a mortgage of $110,000 to $120,000 right now. That buys the vast majority of these homes.

I know one guy who’s already left MD for the oil sands in Alberta. There are others who are planning to leave with Alberta, Manitoba and North Dakota in the back of their minds. One guy I see, another Vet, talks about leaving his wife and daughter back here with his in-laws to seek work out there if that’s what it takes.

That may very well be “what it takes.”

You can bet that if the US collapses the Arabs won’t want any of our funny money and oil will be traded on the Renmimbi (China’s new baby) or some kind of gold standard like what Gadaffi was trying to set in place anyhow before NATO took him out. Mixed blessing that one!…take out the strongman who had the most prosperous country in Africa per capita, but also put more pressure on Israel (whether or not you consider that to be a good or bad thing). Those actions may also put more pressure toward the collapse as war (i.e. uncertainty) becomes more likely in the region and the US and West would likely waste even more resources there.

And yes, we WILL end up like the average people in those pictures, and yes, they were average for the times. But fear not, those of weak spirit and mind will perish because they have never before been challenged. Those of us who have faced deprivations over time (forced or willingly) and have prepared will persevere.

It’s true, the reason that we see no soup lines is that we have 47 million on food stamps, something that never existed in the 30’s.
If it weren’t for food stamps, we’d see huge lines in the cities right now.

Thinking the same thing. The soup line of yesteryear may have been a few tables out on the street.

The soup and bread line of today is behind the register at the grocery store.

(Wal-mart BTW is overpriced. You can get better bargains for many items on a volume/weight basis at any grocery store other than Giant or Safeway…which BTW I can’t understand why people still go to those.)

Not food stamps …..you get a card that looks like a credit card. That way you don’t stand out in public markets. If they still had people on paper food stamps you would shit at the number of people using them!

When i was in high school, I bagged groceries, I would bag up 3 or 4 carts at a time, all bought with foodstamps, I would take them out to a BRAND NEW Caddillac, Pissed me off, it is worse now than it was then!!!!!!!

mach73 – your comments reminded me why I retired from teaching. Welfare kids with expensive sneakers and name-brand clothes were being picked up at end of school day in late model SUVs by mothers with hair extensions, salon manicures and more gold jewelry than King Midas. Upset me to no end.

I also bagged groceries at the end of Carter and into the Reagan years – we ate tuna helper and hamburger helper (yuck!!!!) and I watched the welfare queens use food stamps to buy the best steaks and all of the fancy high priced junk food (twinkies, soft drinks, chips, cookies – but NEVER ANY VEGGIES – EVER!) They spent their cash on cigarettes – and most often they drove a newer vehicle while my parents had at that time NEVER had a new car despite working three jobs between them. We are far worse now because thanks to the debit cards, we cannot see who is gaming the system – the system wants it that way.

Soup lines are the only way to stop all the fraud in the food stamp system. Hungry people could go to one the local school cafeterias for breakfast before school started and dinner after school was out,they could pick up a bag lunch at noon from the town halls, all the work could be done by the unemployeed.
Progresso soup is having a sale at our store this week .88 ea. down from 2.59ea, limit 10 per customer. I got 10 and my wife got 10 and she took them over to the food pantry in the next town, one of the people coming out the door with a box of food was a neighbor who along with his wife has retired from the state with a golden parachute, life time med, pay no state tax on their ck, I put these people right up there with crooked politicians and food stamp cheats.

Were they embarrassed to be seen by you? They darn well should have been! If you see them again, try this: “Gee, your retirement pay must have dried up pretty quick. Are you going to sue the state for breach of promise?”

I know many homeless who simply sell their stamps for 50% of face value so they can buy beer each month. You would be a fool not to buy them. A homeless man gets $200 per month in fl. , if he buys the progresso soup for .88, he invests BPA which slowly kills everyone, its just what they want. One can’t afford to buy organic on stamps, only the cheap food that kills you. Eden organic has a can that is BPA free, most every can has BPA other than eden. This is all a plan, people should stop bitching, and buy organic, save as much money as they can without a sacrifice of health, sell all your junk on ebay, get prepared . Do not buy the cheap food, only organic. This is a design, all on purpose, don’t worry, just act. Its all going go happen, most of us are going to die early via cancer, poison, etc., nothing you can do unless you change eating habits and do research. So sad that the world is like this bout what are you going to do? The IQ of most people is now very low, they will not vote in Ron Paul, besides, he would be killed like Kennedy for his views anyway, money corrupts, root of all evil. Turn of the tv, its garbage. Watch a sporting event or something funny, maybe a movie to keep your happiness in tact. Tell your wife to turn off the real housewives show and mtv, it rots their brain. We live in a fantasy world now to keep humans at peace. Get another passports, check out other countries and see where the rich are moving, they know. Get dual citizenship. They do not poison and GMO all the food everywhere yet, the USA is an experiment littered with corruption, who cares, just accept your fate or change your reality. No one has the power go change this and people are too stupid to change it because they want something from the government for nothing, welfare is their true love. It will not change, you have to understand the mindset of the welfare royal couples. Good luck to all, cover your own ass and start researching how you are being poisoned. I just wish they would target the welfare addicts and not the people with higher intelligence as we could be of use to them, the welfare queens…. Well…. They make us all sick. I agree that they are a waste of space and useless eaters.. Still.. They are human… Almost.. And they have been created by nurture, not nature.

actually, we are starting to see lines for food..food stamps are not purchasing what they used to so folks are lining up at the food banks and churches in small cities. and of course, you have those folks who don’t qualify for food stamps…they are lining up at the churches and the salvation army.

Dave: There are still soup lines. They are quiet and discreet for the most part, but they do exist and they are typically associated with the local, neighborhood food bank, and subsidized by local churches and grocery chains, who must sell their food or throw it out.

While here in the high country on vacation I helped a small local church deliver food to a food bank / soup line at a local school, because I had a truck.

Curiously, I had stopped into this little church one Sunday and it happened to be the Sunday that they manned the soup line and delivered the donated food that they had been collecting for the month. They didn’t have a truck. But somehow, Providence does provide. 🙂

These facilities are populated mostly by veterans, substance users, struggling families, illegals, and drug felons who cannot qualify for a job or food stamps.

No family or individual who is unemployed and struggling to provide for either themselves or their family should be embarrassed by utilizing these facilities. On the contrary, if anyone here is struggling, take advantage of that opportunity to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your dollars.

I had a chat with the Pastor and suggested a few websites for his edification. 🙂

I can’t help but consider the contrast of this comment by DK with his other comments on other threads. Especially his unkind-hearted comments towards illegals, and those who have no assets such as many veterans, substance users, struggling families, and drug felons who cannot qualify for a job or food stamps.

If you’ve been reading long here, you know what I’m talking about.

From this perspective he is a hypocritical wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing and this is an important thing to understand too, because as FerFal has said on his website, it’s not always the poorly dressed gang-bangers who are out to get you and do you harm, rather, more often than not, it’s the Person dressed better than you, the one that smiles to your face but stabs you in the back when you’re looking the other way.
The ones who focus on an attitude of, “I got mine!” are very dangerous and unstable, imho. And those types of individuals will be the ones to watch out for.

I don’t write this as an attack on DK so much as to point out how *many* People are weaved into society in such a way that you, Dear Reader, and I, won’t know who would be the one to do you harm.

One of the things I’ve learned about from reading SHTFPLAN is that those (especially those with strong Midwestern values) who go on about how bad the “gangster bankers” are and yet are the first to beat their chests and step up and fight wars for the benefit of the “gangster banksters” – wars arranged for by the “gangster banksters” – while encouraging others to do so too, can be The Most dangerous, unpredictable and unstable People.
SOme People might say, Satan has taken advantage of their weakness.

… Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for defending the country, that is, the liberty of the People, but fighting for the benefit of “Bankster Gangsters” and lashing out at everyone does Nothing to protect liberty. Because freedom without liberty,… isn’t.

One of the common themes I’ve heard about and read about from the Great Depression was regular People being taken advantage of by the slicked-back types, often in vicious ways. I now see where much of that begins. I hope you do too, Dear Reader.

Clark: I have never said one unkind word against veterans as I am a Viet Nam vet myself.

Nor have I said any unkind thing about substance abusers other than pointing out that they are a danger to others in the workplace. That’s common knowledge and commonly accepted by industry.

More than that it is Federal Law which is why companies test for drugs.

As for the drug felon, I was merely pointing out that fact to let readers know that these people cannot receive food stamps or any other government assistance because of their drug conviction. Hardly a bad rap on someone who has destroyed their own life.

Read my post again and you will see that I encouraged any individual or struggling family to take advantage of the food banks and “soup lines’ to extend their dollars.

But Illegal Immigration? Absolutely! These people are criminals, looking to displace US in OUR own country. They have been encouraged to infiltrate every nook and cranny in America to destroy OUR way of life, dissolve OUR Constitution, and merge America into the North American Union once they have the power to vote.

The US constitution is the only thing that stands between America and One World Government of by, and for the gangster baksters, uber rich, and power elite. FREE TRADE is the economic game plan to make that happen.

As usual you try to rewrite and redefine the comment or argument. Its pure propaganda. It won’t work, Clark. The people here are a lot smarter than that and a lot smarter than you. But its fun to watch you try. It reveals your desperation! 🙂

AS for wolves in sheeps’ clothing, LOU ROCKWALL is that wolf, preaching personal liberty like a Libertarian, yet pushing FREE TRADE which is a demonic system designed to enrich the uber rich and gut the American middle class. It is classic propaganda, taken right out of the double speak handbook.

You can try to fool these people Clark, but they know better. They know that the PTB, the globalists GB’s, and shills like LOU ROCKWALL try to sell them economic slavery as a FREEDOM and that’s what bothers you most, isn’t it?

DK, indirectly you have said many unkind words towards veterans and many other groups of individuals.
It’s all been quite sickening and very un-Christian-like. Through your vengeful hate fueled rants I’m sure you cannot see.

It’s clear in your responses that you love big goberment Above All else.

Thankfully, it seems that the young People who are replacing you do Not share your view towards goberment as a God-parent.

You write, “FREE TRADE which is a demonic system”… man are you ever whacked, free trade is anything But demonic.

For you to say Lew Rockwell says anything But honest truth – is comical -… you have “exposed” nothing.

What bothers me the most is, you twist the meanings of words and act as if you are against the New World Order folks, yet you’re not,… everything you write falls right in line with what they want. (See: thedailybell.com) Plus, you’re rather vulgar and prone to violence, these are characteristics contrary to Christians.

I have 4 kids and a hard working husband, he had a much better job until the economy forced cutbacks. Now his job barely pays our bills. I have noone to watch my kids for me and unless I can magically pull a 40k a year job out of my rear I can not afford day care for my kids either. My husband makes just enough that if I would go to work 20 hrs a week for minimum wage it would put us $3 a month over the income guidelines for child care assistance and would also put us over the guidelines for medical assistance for our kids and SNAP (what food staps are called now) we do receive food stamps now but its barely enough to cover half of our food budget if i shop like most people do. I do not go to food banks and my husband and I do not qualify for medical either (his employer does not offer insurance). Instead I have all the stores sale cycles memorized and I clip coupons and even dive into a recycling dumpster to get extras when I need them. Doing this I manage to feed my family in good we can eat that doesn’t make us sick (we have a lot of dietary issues and preservatives and gluten must be at an absolute minimum or not at all). If I have money left per in my card I buy what non perishables I can and I donate them to the food banks.
We rent because we can not get a loan for a home and we drive a busted up barely gets us where we need to be minivan. That we frequently have to fix but it was what we could afford. I buy all of our clothes at thrift stores and anything we own that is nice or expensive has been either a gift from my in laws or something we bought long ago.
I very muh disagree with those who cheat the system but for some families we have no choice.
I spend any cash we have preparing my family for the inevitable next depression. And at most that might be $20 a month. But as I said I shop as smart as I can.
My families idea of a vacation is a camping trip 20 minutes away in the woods where its free for a weekend.
I understand why everyone looks so poorly on people who get food stamps, when we first got them before my husband got another job I did use a food bank and the amount of people who came in luxury gas guzzling SUVs dressed like high society with $100 manicures and $200 hairdos, sickened me. They still do. Don’t get me wrong if I wanted to sell drugs and work under the table and lie to the government I could probably do the same and get them to pay my rent. But I don’t because its wrong and it hurts everyone. I only applied for the food stamps because I could not afford to feed my kids and the medical for them because they have health issues that could be life threatening if not monitored and under the care of a physician. Their prescriptions alone cost more than my husbands monthly salary. I have been working very hard to find alternative treatments so that they don’t need these prescriptions or so many doctor appointments.
I guess what my point is, is that not everyone receiving government help is doing it wrongly, some of us have no choice right now and are trying our best to work towards self sufficiency.

Pictures from people, families, lost dreams, lost lives.
People who became a number in some statistics chart.
People who knew nothing about inflation, debt, global, swaps, stock market.
People who worked silently and hard in order to earn an honest piece of bread.
Since history makes circles, our generation will face zero point again.
It makes you sad though, that so few people can control the lives of billions.
It makes you sad that the ones who actually have the power, are powerless against greedy little worms.
I don’t care anymore. I only wish it came faster, because this waiting really breaks you nerves.

those who know the trivium and how to use it will survive anything. glad to see it refernced. though, the article does have a few fallicies listed under the list of assumptions. It falsly states the will of the people. That in itself is a fallicy.

Anyways, good artcile over all. And the pictures are mind blowing. very moving emotionally.

My grandmother survived the great depression cause they lived on a farm and all 9 adult kids worked to help thier parents.

A key to surviving what is coming is the family’s ability to help themselves. Something I really don’t have much hope for. Most of todays adult chidlren will simply tell mom and dad to apply for food stamps. Apply for aid and assistance. not actually help them out. I already seen it happen in my own family. My sister send my mother links for aid.

all right, i googled the trivium and got everything from a band to an educational synopsis. There is even a Trivium that sounds like a militia group. What is the comment in relation to? Sorry is this is a stupid question.

Dear Daisy, the following is a small paragraph from George Orwell’s book, “the road to Wigan Pier”

…At the back of one
of the houses a young woman was kneeling on the stones, poking a stick up
the leaden waste-pipe which ran from the sink inside and which I suppose
was blocked. I had time to see everything about her–her sacking apron,
her clumsy clogs, her arms reddened by the cold. She looked up as the train
passed, and I was almost near enough to catch her eye. She had a round pale
face, the usual exhausted face of the slum girl who is twenty-five and
looks forty, thanks to miscarriages and drudgery; and it wore, for the
second in which I saw it, the most desolate, hopeless expression I have
ever-seen. It struck me then that we are mistaken when we say that’ It
isn’t the same for them as it would be for us,’ and that people bred in the
slums can imagine nothing but the slums. For what I saw in her face was not
the ignorant suffering of an animal. She knew well enough what was
happening to her–understood as well as I did how dreadful a destiny it
was to be kneeling there in the bitter cold, on the slimy stones of a slum
backyard, poking a stick up a foul drain-pipe…

i dunno what ya all are worried about?
I said it once and ill say it again.
If it gets to be to much, Just pop a few sleeping pills, a few aspirin, lay your self down near a nice cool running spring, or a field of grass, slit your wrists and go off into a nice deep sleep and never wake up to this shit hole of a world again!

My grandfather fought in the Balcan wars of 1912-1914. He came face-to-face with the cruelty from both sides. Crimes beyond any imagination against POWs, against unarmed people, against women and children.
Until 1975 when he died, he always told to my father that “no matter what hide one bullet, when you see your commarades gone, and the battle is lost, use this last bullet for you”.
Suicide can be a solution, depending the situation and the conditions. But we are human beings, and hope dies last, as we say here.

Don’t worry, i wasn’t planning of doing it. I’m still trying to see how i’m going to fit in this bloody uniform.
I suck my belly, but it stucks near the chest. I leave the chest free, it stucks in the butt.
It’s weird, 20 years ago it was fine. Probably i still have some of my wife’s pregancy killos.

Fortunately or unfortunately, my own beliefs do not allow for suicide.
Not to mention, there is no way I am going to meekly let the evil ones pulling the strings win. And if push comes to shove, there is no way I would ever get into a cattle car on a train under the guise of “relocation”…not while there is breath in my body.
Don’t lie down meekly. If there are 10 of them with weapons and 100 of you, would you stand in front of a ditch and allow them to get behind you? I have never understood that.
Teach yourself survival techniques. Every one of my kids is getting a notebook filled with “How-Tos” for Christmas…from making charcoal to gun powder to soap to canning food to building an igloo in the wintertime…anything and everything that will help allow them to survive what is sure to come.

Our society is so unprepared for collapse I cannot even fathom how difficult it would be (as evidenced by many things pointed out in this article).

We’ve been gardening for years now. When we first started it was difficult and we made many mistakes (still do!). Imagine if you were new to gardening and needed it for food?! I think we are one of 10 neighbors who actually has a garden and we’ve got about 350+ homes in our neighborhood!

The neighbors are too busy partying, eating out, decorating their homes, shopping or driving their luxury car to care about much of anything else.

Our rural neighbors (at our bug our retreat) are totally different. There are animals everywhere, most folks have a garden, they live a much simpler but physically demanding life.

Rural America will fare 5000 times better than suburban and urban America. Assuming the golden hoard doesn’t take out rural America too.

You have a chip on your shoulder the size of a 2×12. You assume any reference to a black person is racist.

He is referring to a US gubmint giveaway to any black person who said they even ATTEMPTED to farm $50,000. Things like potted plants, fertilizing a yard, etc were counted as attempts to farm. Lawyers made a fortune.

that is why we all started prepping for this over two or three years ago…and part of prepping is actually taking action and experiencing what our future is gonna be like. keep trying daisy..dont give up…i figured out twenty years ago that i could not grow the “typical normal garden on my five acres…i have had to work with mother nature so i have veggies planted in with the flowers and bushes, fruit trees inside the fence away from the deer herds…on the sun deck and on the back porch… follow your instincts..and observe what your local veg. growers/farmers do…and believe it or not, alot of times farmers will give advice but be careful in taking their advice…they really dont like competition.

Daisy – second that! I had a giant garden on a city plot this year, and learned many tough lessons.

First and foremost, pests are a HUGE problem! Especially stink bugs here in PA. After that some little critter climbed up the cornstalks and ate all my corn while still on the plant.

I would make a suggestion for prepping supplies for all those who have seeds saved away: also store what it takes to grow those seeds – sterile seed starting material (‘damping off’ mold is a big problem), Round UP to clear the weeds and growth, black mat material to keep the weeds back (or you will spend a LOT of time weeding), and some SEVIN or other pesticide to keep the stink bugs at bay.

And Mr. B…someone estimated 10% preparing??? BS…and I’ll say it again..BS…because for 3 years I have yet to run into anyone at church(2 now), or shopping..that’s the only places I go..but shopping??? and not one except my Natural Health owner??? Geeze.
Now, I don’t want to hear, ‘but they are practicing OPSEC’…BS. Like I’m gonna sit in the parking lot when they leave work and follow???BS again!!

Powerful pictures.. I’m one of the few people I know who really knew their grandparents and great grandparents. My ggm died when I was well into my 30’s.
She lived to see her great,great grandchildren.
I’ve actually eaten water biscuits, water cake and water gravy. When things run out or are too expensive, you learn to use whatever is at hand.
Echoing my post from yesterday; we ARE in a depression now. The painful “picture” facts are simply hidden at the moment by food stamps and extended unemployment. You can’t mask reality forever.. if things continue as they are, we could well see unthinkable things which will echo the photos above… at a minimum.
I have become more and more grateful for the long hours spent as a child working on our small family farm. It was small, 5 acres or so; but we grew virtually everything that we ate, including meat, milk and eggs. I learned very early to tell the difference between a sprouting corn plant and Johnson Grass ( mainly by getting tired of my dad smacking me upside the head for hoeing the young corn ). How many today even know what a tomato plant looks like ?

From The Detroit News: On 10 Sept, The Rev. Jesse Jackson slammed the state’s new cap on welfare benefits Friday during an event in Detroit with community leaders who announced action to help families who face an aid cutoff Oct. 1.

I do. My Grandparents spoke to me often when I would ask about the depression. Tires for Model T, shoes & gas was the hardest thing to spend for. Now, how about that dealer shop fee/hour. That two cycle scooter with training wheels & gun mount is looking better every day.

Millions of people migrated to the US at the end of WW1. During the depression, 40% of them returned to Europe. Many of those that returned died during WW2. Not a pretty picture. For your survival, consider all scenarios. No matter how unpleasant. Because somewhere, someone with power is considering all scenarios.

I think so, too. Look at the pictures. Nobody yelling, cursing, acting like a bunch of lunatics, faces distorted into screaming clown masks. They lost everything, yet retained a certain dignity, a certain class which reflects their “bringin’ up.” I doubt very seriously WTSHTF today we will see any semblance of this behavior.

I asked my grandmother about the Great Depression one time. She told me that they were so poor already that they “didn’t know when it came and didn’t know when it left”. She said that was the one good thing about being poor. Life for them just went on as normal. I can only hope that I will have her strength and character in the times ahead.

Having been raised in a lower and i mean lower middle class working family,living on a farm in my youth and having lived on the street for a year as a young adult ,doing day labor,and continuing to work hard in the hot summer sun all my life,i can relate. Life will go on when the collapse comes.

FYI Tuckerhollow – Church across the river from us started a food pantry, open one morning a week for anyone who needed food. Problem was, word got around re “free food” and older people who were retired but not on hard times would stop in to “shop and grab.” How sick is that? This upset the pastor so he devised a way to discourage it. Now when someone comes in looking for food, they go to a table in the hall and tell the volunteer who they are and how many in their family and what their needs are. The volunteer will help them select food for balanced meals in their household; also, diapers, Depends, feminine products or whatever. It’s working – the more well-to-do seniors have stopped cleaning them out and the food/supplies are going to those who really need them.

they have had to do that here in tupelo ms….and to get food from church they have to also have applied for food stamps and other help as well… there are still alot of people who are getting the help and assistance that could get by without it…this is because they never learned to cook, clean or do the basic things you do to survive.

Caryn, you are totally right. I volunteer for a local non-profit that sells locally grown produce at a very reduced price. Anyone can buy it – a big basket is $20 a month and geared towards a family of 4.

A lot of people on limited incomes weren’t purchasing the baskets because they had no idea what to do with the goods they were recieving. I even overheard a woman tell her child they would get “good” food instead.

I research the produce going into the month’s basket and find recipes and preparation tips. I began doing this during the time I was on assistance, because that is when I learned about the baskets, and never stopped. It seems to be really helpful because previously not many people knew what to do with a rutabega! 😀

My mother and father lived through the depression as children and said that the depression was not too bad for farmers that could grow their food. They had no money, but nobody did, so it didn’t seem unusual to be dirt poor. Again, the ability to grow your own food was the key between misery and happiness.

A depression would actually be good for those that survived it. It would teach the sheeple that there’s things that are more important than reality TV, video games, soap operas, new cars, and new electronic gadgets. Billions of people would learn about hard work, frugal saving, faith in God, etc.

my mom lived through the depression years as a young teenager..she says the same thing “T”…no one had money, everyone was in the same boat..she did say that in their town there were a few families who had a little more than others and it was usually those people who helped the most when a kid in the neighborhood needed a pair of shoes, or clothing…and it was not unusual to find these things sitting on the doorstep or porch…no one went begging. everyone pitched in.

This pictures are truly sad, but have a strength to them all the same. It’s us together that can and will with God almightys help, if this country turns to him he will heal it, but first those evil in power have to be dealt, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but spiritual wickness in high places and with the rulers of this age. That said the physical part is what we will destroy. Stay strong Manos!

Society has so totally changed from the 30’s that I doubt many could make a transition to simpler ways of life. Copout – We do really need to put God in charge of the whole mess. It’s in His hands. Society is so far removed from religion and basic values, It’s all me me me. (not everyone mind you, but a lot)

I love gardening and do a small bit of teaching. One thing I stress is that most people can grow some food. If you have just a deck or small patio, you can grow a couple tomato plants in containers. Sadly, more people just don’t want to be bothered. I see all these beautiful chemical treated lawns and think “wow, how much food could be grown in that space”

It’s a good idea to learn some old timey ways of doing things. Learn some basic sewing skills to at least be able to repair clothing, because you won’t be able to buy new once SHTF. Learn how to can food. I see many people as being too lazy to bother learning these skills. To me its fun, even if I never NEED to use them, I just like learning the old ways of doing things. And who knows, someday I may NEED them.

I live in the ‘burbs and have seen firsthand how badly those manicured lawns will fare if not chemically treated and watered on a regular basis. Many residents of the ‘burbs are in for a big disappointment when they try to garden on the existing soil. Builders often scrape off the topsiol and sell it. Some of it is then sold back to the new homeowners, but usually not enough for a good garden bed.

Busy Bee: This spring I dug up part of the backyard, got some chicken wire and grew sweet corn, Kentucky no rust pole beans, okra, onions, red potatoes, broccoli, and peas, Yukon gold potatoes my favorite, guess what I never had a garden before. Man it was hard, but I loved it and have some great pictures to show my Grand kids since their father thinks God will provide with no effort!

I was born in CA. In my family were Okies, Arkies and Texans. Not from the “Dust Bowl” migration but in the late 30s and 40s after the war. You call some one an “Okie” at school – there would be a fist fight. It was an insult to call some one an “OKie”.

I picke3d cotton, picked peaches until the “fuzz” got to me. I know what it ment to be called a Pea Picker”.

I dread people having to go through that kind of a situation again. It will be sad. Very sad.

My grandfather was an Arkie share cropper. My dad did it for a while. Then WWII started. Our family have always had family gardens. It was a way of life for us all. Even when in the Air Force my wife and I enjoyed a garden and canning tomatoes and making jams/jellies.

Being self sufficient is s skill very few have anymore. But it will become a skill that feeds your family – with God’s blessing and a little help.

most small towns and small cities have had their rails pulled up…what a shame too..and hitch hiking has been against the law for a long time now. no one really thinks twice about bikes being ridden along two lane highways or scenic routes these days but just walking seems to attract the cops or concerned busybodies.

go on raliroad property today and get your head busted plus arrested, thanks to the Patroit Act. There were hitch hikers on every corner when I was kid and when I was in the Army, then in the lated 50s early 60s with the interstates all over and people getting robbed or killed by hitch hikers or sued by hitch hikers families because the car or truck owner got into an accident because insurance was getting maditory all over the country and lawyers were getting tired of writing wills for 25 dollars when they could sue for millions. hitchhiking was made against the law.

I try to tell my daughter about whats coming (she lives and works in the city). She just sighs and says” C’mon dad it can’t get that bad”. I just keep reminding her to keep her eyes open and to be ready to scoot when I have to come get her. I’m thinning my flock of chickens out as I have too many( going in the freezer). She called over the weekend when I was killing and processing them, and her mother told her what I was doing. Her response was, “How can he do that when he knows them.” Sigh……

That’s not very inspiring Durango… your friend WAS healthy and trim, now he is another overweight american. Seriously though, I’m happy to eat beans, meat, bugs (yes, I’ve done it)or whatever if it has decent nutrition and keeps me fed! I could care less about some gas if my belly is full 🙂

I always tell the Missus that I want it carved in my headstone: “He maybe dead, but he was well fed.” I don’t eat to live, I live to eat and I got one fine lady (and mom-in-law) who know how to put the vittles together.

The most overlooked detail that separates the great depression from what we’re about to go through is the fact that very few people live on farms and even fewer have gardens as compared to the 30’s.
I recently helped my neighbor build a chicken coop and she gave us a dozen eggs a couple days ago.
I have lots of seeds and she has a garden as well.

One fact overlooked all the time is people were basicly honest during the depression, our prisons were not filled, the newspapers didn’t have a story every day about some child molester or home invasion, in fact we didn’t have locks on the doors. many mornings my father would go to the barn to milk the cows in the early morn and find a few people sleeping in the barn.Us kids could walk to town by our selves. Today you have to keep an eye on everyone including your own relatives, it’s an entirely different world and everyone is out to screw you, if you let your guard down, you may not wake up or be a vegetable for the rest of your life. Just look at what happends in every city when there is a black out for a few hrs, people go crazy, now just picture the same people hungry and cold. At one time you could walk up to cop and ask them a question or even joke with them, try it today,you may get tazed, they’ve all got an attitude since 9/11, they’re the good guys and we’re the bad guys.

My daughter and her husband have chickens and a 6 acre place. They like gardening and animals. I asked if they were raising the chickens for food. “No.” “You can’t an animal you have named.” I said, “That is why ya don’t name them.” One rooster is named “Cracker” and another named “Dinner”. Thought you’d like that.

One of my friends raised a pig for food but the children wouldn’t eat it after they had it killed. The next pig she bought as a weaner she called Christmas Dinner. The children fed Christmas Dinner every day and then ate him on Christmas day. Just saying…

First things first… get rid of the corruption in Washington. Outlaw lobbying. There should be lobbying. We send our Reps. and Senators up their to represent our State only. Not your State, not some Corporation or foreign Government. Take the Money out of Representing States in Washington and the crooks will not run for election. might some body to run for office that actually cares.

Agreed. They pour money into outer Mongolia or wherever when disaster strikes, yet private farms in the midwest are going under daily and they don’t do a blessed THING. Whatever happened to taking care of your own backyard first?

Change is coming and it may not be a depression. The Democratic Republic of the United States and rule of law under the U.S. Constitution are history. The Elite Corporatocracy that has replaced the Federal Government is a complete failure. Fraud, extortion, and embezzlement are accepted in business and banking with no investigations and no prosecutions. The rape of the American People continues unabated. It wouldn’t take much to to push the whole damn decadent mess over the edge. Anarchy will then be the reward for 50 years of self-indulgence and indifference to our duty as citizens. We have allowed a government to exist that is destroying the American Middle class and transferring the wealth of the nation to one tenth of one percent of the population. This has never worked throughout history, it always ends in bloodshed and it’s not going to work here.

Keep your powder dry and your boats close to shore. You are probably going to need both real soon.

Another difference between now and the 30’s is the dependence on anti depresents, mood stabilizers, etc. I know some very unhealthy families in which the parents and children are on medications, that really is unnecessary.

Reading “the worst hard times” right now and this book about the dust bowl before, during and after the great depression is a good eye opener. I think americans have gotten soft and a similiar great depression will be difficult.

All I know is that with my actions now it will be a little better for my family. Learning lost skills like canning, sewing, gardening, doing without, are things that take time. Start now.

I lived in a university town in 1980 while working on my master’s. That was when the move to shut down state hospitals was in full swing. There was a man who would come into the music store where I worked every single day. He never bought anything, but would spend 15-20 min. in the men’s restroom. We all wondered – what is he DOING in there? One day a salesman waited about 5 min., then went in. He found the man taking a bath at the sink. Yep – man was former resident of the state hospital, which was about 2 mi. from the store. He had been released yet had no home and no family to turn to. Thankfully he wasn’t violent. Multiply him by thousands and ratchet up the violence factor and…Houston, we have a problem.

It is scary to be without meds if you are sure you need them. Many would/could do without them but they just don’t know HOW to do without them. We have lost many skillsets for coping. We also have the idea that we should all feel good all the time. Life just isn’t like that. Sometimes the SHTF and we suffer huge losses. We have to learn to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and start all over again. And again. And sometimes again. I went through a total economic collapse of a country in the 1980s. It was very difficult and felt like hell to walk away from everything we had put together for ourselves. Now 25 years later we are better off than we were before and much better prepared this time around. Psych meds didn’t help at all, though it made the doctor feel better to prescribe them. If you need insulin for diabetes or thyroid for thyroid problems then it is a bit more complicated. It doesn’t last forever and needs good conditions to keep it for long periods of time.

keep a rubber hammer handy for the non violent people and a 30-06 for the violent ones.If we slip into an economic crash(full blown, no turning back depression) the sooner we sort out the worthless and helpless people the better off we’ll be, more people will survive. I know it sounds cruel and it is cruel. I wrote it before and here it is again, Russian and German women had to make choices in the mornings about which kids they would feed and which they would let starve during WW2.Some people on here talk like this coming crash will be a weekend of camping in the park and then on Monday we’ll go back to the good old days, but it’ll never be the same in our life time, if ever. people better prepare for the worst and just hope to survive the next 40-50 yrs.Have food and water for a yr, but have your land ready for a couple life times.

Why does this website use terms like “we” do this and “we” are like that? Not everyone is like that. Saying we is lazy and stupid. You show a lot of disrespect to your readers when you lump them in with others.

Even in these days people like Joseph Kennedy did very well. The palaces will stand, guarded by Iraqi vets who will shoot anyone who stand in their way to get their cot and their monthly salary of half ounce gold coin.

I predict the 14th amendment would be repealed, and slavery (in some sweetened name) will come back.

I’ve been preparing mentally since I was a kid and continue to learn every day. I am a mechanic, a chef, a gardener, a gadget hacker, a mr fixit, an outdoorsman, a scout able to live off the land. I can hunt and fish and forage and have learned about local edible plants. I am part McGuyver, part Mad Max and part John Connor. Aparrently, I’m like that guy on TV Hackett. I can build a log cabin using basic tools and measuring instruments. I do not need to rely on others to do most things for me. Many of the people that I know do not know these things and will not be around if all hell really breaks loose. Don’t need anyone to take up space or resources anyhow.
My parents survived the depression due to their ability to go without. This is something that few know today. There was little economy in terms of cash for service or products, but barter ruled the day. The ability to fix things that are broken is a lost skill. That $3000 tv on the wall won’t feed your family. That time share in Florida won’t keep your family from freezing in the winter if you have no means to heat your home. I have friend who can’t even build a fire in the outdoors if all stages of kindling and firewood were given to them and a lighter to go with it.

Let’s say our men and women in blue, are slowly but steadily become overwhelmed by calls of thievery by the general public. Bring in the troops! Martial law!
As the true value returns to the things that keep us alive, we will most likely hoard like crazy. Soon the criminals (who are prepared and have motivated clients) learn when they can and cant get access to you your supply.

Me in my house with supplies and ammo. Here comes ten people with guns that want what I have. End of story.

Me at my bug out location with a nice harvest. Here comes ten people with guns that want what I got. End of story.

Me with the mob coming to your house to get what you have.
Mob rules.

—
At the end of the day.
We and our neighbors are the resistance.
Choice is simple, Plan or fail. When the local
survivalist kook, who assembled a bedraggled
group of hunger crazed neighbors, into a self surviving community,
is looking for recruits who have skills, make sure you have something
of value. Think now, about fitting in later.

Having seen first hand over and over again what economic collapse does to people and society (former Communist countries, austerity crises), I hold out zero hope the US will ride this out in a positive way.

All these other places I lived experienced increasing violence and serious social problems, but they did not have populations with weapons nor did they have ingrained very violent communities and crime gangs on the scale the US does.

The US will face civil war if the security grid does not lock it down. That is the unknowable for me: how effective is the grid? Can it do it? Anyone have answers???

■Back during the Depression most of America could feed themselves with farming, now we only know corporate frankenfood.

Unless they were in the dust bowl areas of the country, which was a very large area!

■Back then people only knew of real wealth, now we think the digits in our brokerage account in wealth.

The same thing that caused the Great Depression is doing the same thing now, Greed !You need to look at the history of it. You come off as an idiot unless you make your meaning clear!

■Back then people had a strong family on community support systems, now we live little lives of narcissism.

That may well be true, but’s I’ll give you odds it has more to do with what people have been fed by corprate America to convince them of what’s important (people are stupid, and they know it)

Popularity
■Back then people had a strong spiritual strength, now we have chemically induced denial.

Again, people are stupid!

■Back then people were of fit body and strong mind, now we are obese and willfully ignorant.

Again, people are stupid and LAZY!

■Back then people had a classical education to help them figure things out, now we wait for answers.

Back when? Do you mean common sense or schooled? I’ll give you common sense as back then you’d be really lucky to get beyound the basics of math 101. Please if you will, how many schools were even teaching anything beyond fractions back then!

■Back then people had a real economy, now we have a consumer/debt economy.

We had the same thing, but to a lesser extent. Hence the same thing that’s happening now that happened then{fool}. WallStreet wild. If you think letting those asses doing what they will is good for the country you deserve what ya get!

■Back then people did physical activity for fun, now we have entertainment that turns us in to mental and physical mush.

IT’S ALL ON PURPOSE!!! THIS IS A WORLDWIDE PLAN OF THE ELITES; CALLED ALSO THE ULUMINATTI…IT HAS BEEN PLANNED FOR YEARS AND IS NOW ALMOST INTO PLAY…IT’S CALLED THE NEW WORLD ORDER!!! A ONE WORLD GOV’T…THEY ARE TRYING TO DEPOPULATE; LESS PEOPLE TO DEAL WITH; DUMB US DOWN; CHEMTRAILS HEAVY METALS; AND COLLAPSE US. THERE WILL BE A ONE WORLD LEADER; WHO HAS CONTROL OVER THE WHOLE WORLD. JUST LIKE HITLER; BUT THE WHOLE WORLD…IN THE BIBLE HE IS CALLED THE ANTI-CHRIST. HE WILL SOON AFTER THE COLLAPSE REQUIRE EVERYONE TO BE CHIPPED. THIS IS MANDATORY IN OBAMACARE!~~~ CHECK IT OUT FOR YOUR SELF…HE WILL KILL ALL WHO WILL NOT FOLLOW; AND WORSHIP HIM. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUY OR SELL WITHOUT THIS MARK; OR CHIP. THE RFID CHIP COMPANY IS CALLED X-MARK~…
x=Christ…christmark; as in anti-christ. he will eventually claim to be the returned Jesus.. but the real Jesus promised to return to “take up” his own. away from what is at hand…he said what is going on would just be the beginning of sorrows. it’s wise to save food ect. because we don’t know the exact hour of his return for those who have asked him as savior; and into there life and heart. Jesus is a gentleman; he won’t come in unless invited. this is our hope in all this mess and evil world. but Jesus is comming to take BACK his own VERY SOON; make him yours today. and you will have the hope and peace; of a better future.

I’m so tired of listening to all of you people judge, criticize, and blame everyone else for everything. If the collapse comes, it is because of YOU as much as anyone else in America. Don’t kid yourselves. Your arsenals aren’t going to save your whiny asses, unless you’re planning on becoming a murdering scumbag and thief. The only thing worth anything in post economic collapse will be community. And I’m not just talking about you and your homeboys. Learn to take some personal responsibility and play well with others, boys and girls, or you’re dead… or worse.

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